CHAPTER 172
The commander of the Scream-less Blade. Babra.
He was twitching his finger as he looked at the girl who was much younger than him.

Babra belonged to the Scream-less Blade and had killed countless people until now.
This included not only ordinary citizens but also nobles surrounded by heavy security.
Those who had died by his hands could form a river of blood.
With exceptional concealment skills and assassination techniques refined to the absolute limit for killing humans...
He could confidently say this:
If given the chance, he could kill even a Lord.

However, in this moment, Babra was quietly observing Aranseol from behind his mask.
The bizarre airflow rising around her.
And the incomprehensible killing intent radiating from her sword.
A sense of incongruity lightly struck his mind.
This woman was dangerous.

"Aranseol... I see. You're the disciple of the Sword Lord, aren't you?"

The Scream-less Blade also handled public intelligence gathering.
Naturally, they had memorized at least the disciples of the Lords.
And he was well aware of who Aranseol traveled with.

"Is this the Saint's order? That friend has quite a shrewd side to him."

A blatant underlying message.
A warning that he knew everything about her, so if she didn't back down now, everything related to him would be in danger.

At that moment, Babra's head snapped back.
A thick, boiling killing intent washed over him, riding the wind.
A ferocious bloodlust that seemed impossible for a human of that young age to emit wrapped around Babra.

For a split second, he felt his breath hitch in his throat.
His throat swelled as if he were being strangled, his fingertips trembled, and his pupils dilated.
It all happened in an instant.
And he quickly realized who was causing it.

Aranseol.
The simple killing intent she was exuding.
That overwhelming bloodlust was suffocating him.

'What the hell...'

No matter if she was the Sword Lord's disciple, how could she possess such killing intent at that young age?
With an incomprehensible feeling, Babra hurriedly pulled off his mask.
As he did, gray hair fluttered, revealing a face ruined by scars.
Having thrown away his mask, he lowered his stance and gasped for air.
If he hadn't, he would have almost passed out from the suffocating killing intent.

"Wh-What the hell are you?"

He had his own up-to-date information.
The Aranseol who went to Wol-un was not this strong.
In the first place, getting this strong in such a short amount of time was impossible.
Essentially, Aranseol had made the impossible possible and appeared before him.

Babra had seen all sorts of dirty tricks.
Drugs, curses, blessings, even the protection of Transcendents.
Even factoring in all those things, Aranseol's current strength was completely beyond comprehension.

"Does that matter?"

Aranseol slowly grabbed the hilt of her sword with the hand resting on her waist.
Just that action alone made goosebumps erupt all over Babra's body.
His body instinctively felt fear just from the act of her drawing her sword.
And that also meant Babra had survived countless battlefields overflowing with killing intent.

The killing intent Aranseol emitted.
The Domain of Bloodlust.
The more bloodlust one accumulated by passing through battlefields steeped in killing intent, the thicker the bloodlust they felt from a stronger opponent.
Another technique mastered from Danmyung.
It was a technique that could utterly crush an opponent's spirit just by making eye contact.

"You said something you shouldn't have."

And Aranseol, fully unleashing that Domain of Bloodlust, leaped forward without hesitation.
The distance between Aranseol and Babra closed in a flash.
Babra hastily drew his daggers to defend against Aranseol's sword.

Kaaang!

A heavy strike traveled through his dagger.
But that wasn't the end.

Crackle! Bzzzt!

Intense red sparks flowed down the dagger and coiled around his arm.
An elemental awakener.
It was information he already knew, but the output was on a completely different level from before.
That wasn't all.
The red sparks were flowing so cunningly that he couldn't deflect them with his own magic power.
It was proof that she had perfectly mastered her element as well.

The sword rushed in once more.
Babra hurriedly spread open the robe he was wearing.
What poured out from it were hundreds of daggers.
Following Babra's magic power, each and every one of those daggers simultaneously drew a flower in the air and flew toward Aranseol.

In that brief moment.
Aranseol's sword swung hundreds of times in unison to meet the hundreds of daggers.
A sword dance in a profound realm that the eye couldn't even follow.

Shatter!

Hundreds of daggers shattered into pieces simultaneously and scattered in the air.
It was a level of swordsmanship that could safely be said to have reached the ultimate pinnacle of the sword.

Babra realized it.
This was an opponent he could do absolutely nothing against.
As his robe fluttered, Babra's figure vanished from the spot.
By the time Aranseol's sword pierced the robe, he was already gone.
True to the Scream-less Blade, he had his own means of escape prepared.

Aranseol retrieved her sword and let out a light breath.
Then, she sheathed her sword and looked back at the 3rd Prince, Leoli.

"Your Highness the 3rd Prince, are you alright?"

At Aranseol's question, Leoli flinched and raised his head.
Though he was less affected by the Domain of Bloodlust because he was still young, his life had just been threatened moments ago.
It was natural for him to be terrified.

"Wh-Who are you? Whose orders are you following to come find me?"

A tone unbefitting a 10-year-old child.
It was a tone born from living his entire life as a prince.
To that Leoli, Aranseol bowed politely.

"The Holy Church wishes to protect you, Your Highness the 3rd Prince. We have also secured Lady Leila on our end, so let us quickly move to a safe location."
"M-Mother is...?"

Come to think of it, Leoli belatedly realized that his mother had also been chased.
His mother, who had stepped forward to help him escape.
He hadn't even had the presence of mind to think about her condition.

"Is Mother safe?!"
"Yes, she is fine. Even if something were to go wrong..."

A smile spread across Aranseol's lips.

"As long as we have the Saint, your mother will never die."

It was clearly meant to be a reassuring statement.
But why?
Leoli felt a terrifying chill from her smile.
However, he had no one else to rely on anymore.
All he could do was desperately pray that her words were true.

Aranseol had secured the 3rd Prince.
Hearing the situation through the communication device I had tucked in my pocket, I quietly let out a breath.

Aigis, the Divine Lord, represented the Holy Church, so she couldn't move recklessly.
One wrong move, and the sparks could fly to the Holy Church.
The same went for Iox, the Royal Mage Captain.
As long as he held the position of Royal Mage Captain, he couldn't come either.

Therefore, there was only one card I could send there.
Aranseol.
Aranseol was not bound to any organization.
Moreover, she could bring the 3rd Prince back using her stealth technique, Ghost Walk.
Thus, Aranseol executed her mission flawlessly.
We had obtained the most important card for negotiation: the 3rd Prince.

However, there was a problem.
As bait, I had caused way too big of a scene.
Standing before me were three of the absolute peaks of Imperial power.

The 2nd Prince, Dreivan Gladion.
The 1st Princess, Perasis Gladion.
And finally, the owner of gorgeous platinum blonde hair, the 1st Prince, Pelion Gladion.

Three candidates for the throne stood before me.
And they were all keeping a certain distance from each other.

Honestly, I thought I would just run away the moment even one of them showed up.
But I never expected all three of them to arrive at almost the exact same time without any delay.

A standoff between the three candidates for Emperor.
And naturally, the nobles and factions supporting each candidate were backing them up.
With the Emperor dead, an all-out war between the factions was imminent.
Those belonging to the factions had all rushed to gather here.

Did the first founding Emperor of the Empire foresee this?
That the most powerful figures capable of splitting the Empire into three would be brought face-to-face by a single Transferee without any noble status?

Talk about a shrimp getting its back broken in a whale fight.

"I expected this from the very first day we met."

At that moment, the first to break the silence was Dreivan.

"That your existence would eventually cause this kind of mess."

The day I left the Imperial Palace to get Iox appointed as the Royal Mage Captain.
Dreivan had first met me there.
My status as a Saint and my Resurrection Magic.
It seemed he had vaguely anticipated that these two things would eventually become the core of shaking up the Imperial Family.

"If you knew that, you should have treated him better."

The 1st Princess, Perasis, lightly added her commentary.
Despite Dreivan's glaring gaze, Perasis wore a sly smile.

"It seems you both have a connection with the Saint."

The last to speak was the 1st Prince, Pelion.
Out of all of them, he was the only one I had no particular connection with.
But why?
Right now, the 1st Prince was clearly the one in the weakest position among the three.
And yet, I could feel an inexplicable confidence emanating from him.

An innate, kingly charisma.
It felt as if Pelion possessed exactly that.

"That's right, Brother."

At Pelion's words, Perasis agreed with a bright face.

"Though, I really don't understand why you are here right now, Brother."

Stabbing people with words so casually.
True to someone aiming for the throne, Perasis provoked Pelion without a moment's hesitation.
As a result, various shouts and outcries naturally threatened to erupt from the 1st Prince's faction.
However, Pelion lightly calmed them down.

"I believe it is unjust to link my mother's sins to me."

The Empress and himself were separate entities.
Pelion drew the line just like that.

"I agree."

But even if he drew a line, there was no way Dreivan and Perasis would accept it.

"For you to step forward, Brother, is a disrespectful act toward His Majesty the Emperor."

Saying that, Dreivan naturally turned to look at me.

"We must revive His Majesty and let him personally enact severe punishment."

As expected, Dreivan favored reviving the Emperor.

"Well, if that's the case."

At that, Pelion raised both hands as if conceding.

"Hearing it directly from His Majesty would be the right course of action."

This was a declaration that he, too, would not oppose reviving the Emperor.
Pelion had essentially joined hands with Dreivan.
It was a temporary alliance made specifically to back Perasis into a corner right now.

Perasis was not ignorant of that fact.
To refuse their proposal here meant opposing the Emperor's resurrection.
The situation would drastically change depending on what she said next.

Everyone's eyes converged on Perasis.
In the tense atmosphere...
The moment everyone waited solely for her words...
Perasis's lips finally parted slowly.

"Yes, we should. Shouldn't we revive His Majesty?"

A positive response returned with a bright smile.
At that unexpected turn of events, everyone froze solid.

The person who should have wanted the Emperor's resurrection the least had just agreed to it.